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10/26 Minimal Monthly – A Fresh Coat of Digital Paint 👀
Published about 3 hours ago • 3 min read
October 2026
Minimal Monthly
Hello, hello!
I did a ton of decluttering this month... on the website!
The nerd version: I rebuilt Tidymalism from scratch, gave it a cleaner design, ditched Wordpress for good and migrated to a static Jamstack setup (Astro and Sveltia) that's now stored on my Github and served up by Cloudflare. My old hosting and plugin bloat cost around $500 a year. Now it's $0. Woot, woot.
The upshot: everything loads faster now, has a more minimalist design, and for anyone who's misplaced their glasses (alright alright, me), I added a nifty toggle on the upper right that switches text larger site-wide. There's a dark mode now, too, and it's all optimised for mobile.
I'm ironing out a couple of remaining kinks but if you see anything weird, don't hesitate to hit reply and drop me a line. 🙃
Affiliate Corner
Anyone remember when I talked about identity theft and people stealing your trash? It's a thing! And it's why I always shredded any docs and mail with my personal deetz before throwing them out.
Now I found something way simpler and think it's one of my best ten-ish buck purchases ever: this little rubber stamp gizmo makes text on paper illegible, even when you hold it up to the light. I get so much use out of it and can recommend it for obfuscating your details before you bin paperwork! Amazon has other sizes and formats, too.
Mixed Bag 'o Links
Here’s a roundup of what caught my eye across the web this month. We’ve got the return of physical media, some very sensible takes on emergency preparedness, and a hilarious way to deal with a messy computer screen...
First vinyl made a comeback, and now it looks like CDs are having a revival too. And if all that physical media has you craving a dedicated spot to actually sit and enjoy your music, these listening rooms are pure inspiration.
If your computer desktop is a chaotic mess of random files and screenshots, this developer built the funniest solution I’ve seen: a virtual rug for your screen that you can literally sweep your clutter underneath.
I loved this tour of Julianne Moore’s home in New York City! The whole place is wonderful (including a great find from Ikea), and her patio is an absolute standout.
A gentle reminder from the AskWomenOver60 community on Reddit: the world doesn’t revolve around you, so next time you're on the phone with your parents, how about asking them what they’ve been up to instead of talking about yourself the whole time? 😘
The Minimal Phone is now available for pre-order, and it looks seriously good! It’s an Android device built with an aluminium chassis and a physical keyboard like Blackberrys used to have. It was designed specifically to put focus first and keep distractions at bay.
If your garage has slowly turned into a dumping ground over the years, I'd say this spotless setup on Reddit is the ultimate motivation to get in there and sort it out.
We've known for decades that the key to an accurate medical diagnosis is simply letting the patient speak at length, yet doctors cut them off after an average of just 11 seconds. Even if you're sceptical of AI, this thread makes a very compelling case for how it can help bridge that gap at your next doctor's appointment.
Have a growing mountain of journals and sketchbooks? YouTuber GareTheBear is completely notebook-obsessed and built a custom system in his studio to keep his entire collection tidy and accessible.
Cooking with Chris has a straightforward, no-nonsense list of 20 nutrient-dense foods we should all be eating a bit more of. Good to keep in mind in winter.
With all the massive online security breaches this month, I gathered a few worthwhile reads on preparedness. First, a look at why digital preparedness matters right now, paired with a practical list of what to do if the internet goes down during a major cyber incident. And for a very sensible take on physical supplies, this former hardcore prepper from Austin explains why he ditched his expensive “Gucci-level” gear in favour of keeping simple, affordable basics on hand (very much in line with what I recommend in my online prepping calculator that spits out a shopping list for you!).
That's it for me this month. Have a nice weekend!
Thank you for reading. If you have any comments, feedback, or would like to be featured in an upcoming issue, hit reply and drop me a line.
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